And to think the man entertains the notion of being elected leader of this country.
Can you imagine that? Majority GOP in the House now, and say he did win 2012. And then say worst case scenario, the GOP takes majority in the Senate and maintains control of the House.

An America that the GOP, before the last election that garnered them control in the House, said if they won both houses they'd take the vision of America back to the one George W. Bush had in mind.
And the absolute Armageddon of scenarios would be the balance in the U.S. Supreme court tipped to favor ultra-right wing conservative Jurists.

It would be an American Republic model that in it's own rite could make Iran look like it's ruled by a bunch of hippies.

I don't like persuading Christians too atheism. Like an Christian Missionary going to pagan lands and trying too convert. I try to poke holes into their dam and see what happens. Will they let the water in and think or would they just reinforce the dam.

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” ~ Gautama Buddha

I was going for the kick-them-in-the-nuts-until-they-stop-believing-methode. But i guess this one is better

First of all i think you should check if it would make them happier if you would convince him/her of becoming an atheist. Personally i prefer living and dying in a happy illusion over having to deal with harsh reality. In some cases people really are the happy illusion kind of people and i wouldn't want to take that away from them.
Even if religions abuse people through their believe, by convincing a single person you won't change that fact and it might be better to just leave it be.

I like the way the article starts off by telling the reader on step 8 to avoid using the God of the Gaps argument ("there is no answer and/or science fails to explain it, therefore god did it"), and then uses it throughout the rest of the article.

The God excuse: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument. "God did it." Anything we can't describe must have come from God. - George Carlin

I firmly believe that we both should (and should not) attempt to convert the Christian. What I mean by that is that I think it is pointless to make it a goal to deconvert a specific Christian, totally pointless. Instead we should be very vocal and in the open letting them see that we are normal reasonable people and that it is alright to be an atheist. We should also make the arguments against theism accessible to anyone who wants to see the evidence. In other words I am proposing a non-confrontational style in spreading the word.

I say this because (unlike religious conversion) becoming an atheist rarely happens from an instant flash of insight, but is usually a long drawn-out process of study over many years.

From my experience the most effective campaign to spread atheism would be one that encourages Christians to get to know the Bible better.

(28-04-2011 10:06 PM)daemonowner Wrote: @gaglamesh They seem reasonable at first, then they derail their credibility when they say "Research the kalam cosmological argument" and a few other terrible arguments.

Yeah - it starts out nicely enough about saving your fellow humans from hell and then it boils down to hating gay people and pseudoscience explanation for our universe and life.

Something I've been wanting to try. If a christian you don't care for tries to convert you ask them if they've read the bible, put them on the defensive "Why not, its Gods holy inerrant word is it not? Have you read other books? Why on earth would you choose that book over the bible? What if there is an entrance exam at the pearly gates? You're going to look mighty foolish aren't you. If you read one book this year, or even in your lifetime, surely this should be the one."

Basically get them to read the bible, how you go about that would depend. A guilt trip and showing their hypocrisy just seems like it would be the most effective and fun.